Tonga (c. 1875–1925)

Tonga was a charter member and deacon of the Titikaveka church, Cook Islands.

Tonga was born on the island of Rarotonga about 1875.¹ He and his wife were among the first indigenous Cook Islanders to accept the faith of the Seventh-day Adventist missionaries. They were charter members of the Titikaveka church on the south coast of Rarotonga, formed in 1903 with a membership of twenty-five baptized individuals.² Tonga was elected as their deacon,³ effectively their constant lay leader as various expatriate missionaries arrived for relatively brief periods and were replaced by others.

When literature was translated into the national language it was Tonga who gladly adopted the role of canvassing his people. The periodical Tua-tua Mou (Truth) was first published in 1907 and he distributed it freely and gained annual subscriptions. He also canvassed the Tongan translation of Thoughts on Daniel and the English version of Christ Our Saviour.⁴ In 1908 Tonga took passage to Aitutaki Atoll and pioneered with these publications, conducting Sabbath services while he visited. Having canvassed successfully on Aitutaki he proceeded to other islands including Mangaia Island in 1909 to pioneer in the same manner.⁵ Later, he canvassed the population of Niue Island.⁶ The large proportion of his subscribers were already members of Christian denominations and receptive to further study of the Scriptures. They became familiar with the instruction that Seventh-day Adventists missionaries offered to them later.

For more than two decades Tonga was the leading national among the Seventh-day Adventists in the Cook Islands and highly respected in the general community. All were shocked in 1924 when the news broke that he was struck with leprosy and quarantined on a tiny speck of land called Moturakau, a lonely islet in Aitutaki Atoll. A nurse attended to the medical needs of the few sufferers and a doctor visited regularly. Initially, Tonga responded favorably to standard treatment and the prognosis was that he would return to his home on Rarotonga in twelve months but he relapsed with tuberculosis-like symptoms. Mission superintendent Elder Henry Hill sat by his emaciated body at the last, Tonga barely able to gather strength to whisper his message, “God is love.” He passed away on Sabbath evening, February 7, 1925, and was laid to rest at Aitutaki where he had pioneered in earlier days.⁷

Sources

Hill, H[enry] A. “The Death of Tonga.” Australasian Record, May 25, 1925.

“Monthly Summary of Australasian Canvassing Work.” Union Conference Record, March 1, 1909.

"Our hearts were rejoiced…” Australasian Record, June 16, 1924.

Titikaveka Church Roll. Avondale University College Archives, Cooranbong, New South Wales. Box 3418. Folder: Cook Islands. Document: “Titikaveka Church Roll, 1903.”

Tonga. “A Hand-clasp Across the Sea.” Union Conference Record, May 28, 1906.

Tonga. “An Interesting Letter.” Union Conference Record, January 11, 1909.

“Tonga.” FamilySearch.org, Intellectual Reserve, 2020. Retrieved from https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/LZPV-NH3.

“We hope all our readers…” Australasian Record, February 4, 1924.

Notes

1. “Tonga,” FamilySearch.org, Intellectual Reserve, 2020, accessed September 5, 2020, https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/LZPV-NH3.↩

2. Titikaveka Church Roll. Avondale University College Archives, Cooranbong, New South Wales. Box 3418. Folder: Cook Islands. Document: “Titikaveka Church Roll, 1903.”↩

3. Tonga, “A Hand-clasp Across the Sea,” Union Conference Record, May 28, 1906, 3.↩

4. “Monthly Summary of Australasian Canvassing Work,” Union Conference Record, March 1, 1909, 6.↩

5. Tonga, “An Interesting Letter,” Union Conference Record, January 11, 1909, 8.↩

6. “We hope all our readers…” Australasian Record, February 4, 1924, 8.↩

7. H[enry] A. Hill, “The Death of Tonga,” Australasian Record, May 25, 1925, 2-3.↩